The Dragon's Return
by fika1603-v2
Summary: Seto Kaiba's 21st birthday brought him a lot of well-wishes, but unexpected guests forced him to confront with a past he has almost forgotten: his mother and her lineage. Meanwhile, Mokuba struggles to come to terms with his brother's new status, and himself. Will the living past crush their relationship? Slight YGO x Hakuouki universe, but mostly Seto & Mokuba. R&R!


_AUTHOR'S NOTE:_

 _Hello everyone!_

 _If the username looks familiar, that's because it is lol. To cut a long story short, I lost access to my previous one.  
_ _I've been away from FFnet for a long time, but recently I felt like I wanted to return. Especially since I have a story idea to explore and share!_

 _The idea for this fic - and a YGO x Hakuouki universe crossover at that - came about when I realized that the voice actor for Seto Kaiba and Kazama Chikage was the same person: the wonderful Kenjiro Tsuda._

 _I have also been rewatching both series rather assiduously, and thought quite a fair bit about certain things. The character of Seto Kaiba isn't easy to write, and neither is Mokuba. There is so much to explore in their relationship and their development individually, and I hope in this fic, I'll be able to do that._

 _It's been some time since I wrote - I might be rusty. But in any case, do have a read, and let me know your thoughts! (:_

 _Love, fika1603_

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Birthday Man**

Everything was going well. Or at least everything was going as planned for the twenty-first birthday bash of one of the country's most powerful men.

All the invited guests turned up; those who were not were still free to line the street leading up to the hotel, held back by velvet ropes and security personnel stationed every few hundred metres. National and international media waited along the red carpet, prepared to snap photos of the glitzy crowd in attendance for the party, and of course, the birthday man himself.

For the occasion, he had worn an outfit not of his choice – a fitted three-piece powder blue suit, over a shirt of slightly darker hue. There had been a brief argument at home over the blue overkill. But his sixteen-year-old brother – also to all formal intent and purposes, Kaiba Corporation's Vice –President, and the person overall in charge of handling the company's public image – was having none of his brother's grumblings. Eventually, he caved, and soon turned up for his own birthday party half-scowling.

Two hours later, all Seto Kaiba wanted was to go home.

To be fair, the party was bearable, even if initially he was vehemently against such an idea. But once in a while Kaiba Corporation needed to appease its numerous stakeholders with some attention, and a twenty-first birthday party was an easy solution. Fortunately, there was no one annoying in attendance. Majority of the guests were long-time business partners, government officials, Diet members, ambassadors, one or two members of the Imperial house. It was an extremely polite affair, and everyone sincerely wished him well.

"It's your second coming-of-age ceremony!" one of his business partners teased as he clinked glasses with Seto, who gave a nod by way of thanks but deigned to sip his champagne.

"Kaiba-sama, surely it's only a few more years before you're eligible to run for the Lower House," the Diet members from Domino's municipality were particularly keen on the thought of having him as a future colleague.

Seto didn't blame them. To be fair, he had been contemplating running for office. He was more than capable for it, and on the popularity front, he was faring quite well. But in this moment, some nominal humility wouldn't hurt, so Seto thanked the Diet member, but declined such a possibility.

"I have no interest in such troublesome things," he said nonchalantly. "Kaiba Corp is expanding. And Mokuba of course, is growing up." He paused for effect and frowned slightly. "It's a difficult phase, especially when you're on the other side…"

Those words had the effect he was aiming at. Amidst the oohs and aahs of admiration, as well as sympathetic sighs, his middle-aged guests who have gone through the challenges of parenting teenagers also extended parenting tips. Seto didn't really care much for those tips, but out of courtesy he listened anyway.

After a while, Seto finished his rounds of meeting, greeting and thanking his guests for attending his party, and left them to enjoy on their own accord. He generally left prolonged socialization to his younger brother: Mokuba was warmer, chirpier and he was more at ease with small talk. Of course, Seto could entertain guests just as well – if he felt like it. Today wasn't one of those days, clearly. This entire party was such a bore. What else was there to do at a birthday party? He had even cut his birthday cake. If this was a usual low-key celebration, those in attendance would have been children, not these dull adults. He would have been more obliging in terms of entertaining questions, photo-taking requests and maybe even take part in those silly party games. It was even nice to have some of those kids not know just what Seto Kaiba meant to the outside world beyond being the Kaiba Land guy. Seto pondered for a while. Perhaps in the future, he could -

"A bit rude to abandon your own party, isn't it, Seto-sama?" a lazy but resonant voice suddenly intruded his thoughts.

The scowl that had faded over the course of forced socialization now reappeared in Seto's brows. He looked up to see three male figures standing before him. All of them were dressed similarly in white kimono, but their obi and haori were in different colours. The one in the centre – and who presumably had spoken to him – had his in crimson red. Its trim complemented his pale hair and golden eyes. The other two flanking him wore darker colours, but had chestnut-coloured hair and blue eyes so dark they were almost black. There was something ethereal about their demeanour, even if at the same time they look prepared to kill if necessary. Having gained Seto's attention, the three men bowed slightly by way of greeting.

Seto merely snorted. "Is gate-crashing private events the new social norm? I'm not a fan of it."

"It's hardly a private event when the general public can peer in and line the streets for you," the man with the crimson haori replied with a simpering smile. His words were met with stony silence. He shrugged, and proceeded, "I will go straight to get introductions out of our way. Everyone knows who you are, so let's skip that. My name is Mitobashi Ryuu." He gestured to the other two men flanking him, "Saneda Eiji. And this is Fujimatsu Kenta."

Seto raised an eyebrow at the mention of those family names. "Mitobashi? Of the old petty nobility?"

Mitobashi pretended not to hear. "I believe it might be better if we were to bring this conversation to a private room. We are here on family business."

The KaibaCorp president was less than enthused. "What, one of Gozaburo's long-lost extended family come to plead for whatever trivial reasons?"

The pale-haired man looked deeply offended – and disgusted – at Seto's words. "We are of an entirely different breed from him." Almost haughtily, he announced, "Kazama. We are from the Kazama clan."

A vein near Seto's temple twitched, even as his face remained stoic. Mitobashi noticed his reaction, however, and he looked at Seto squarely in the face as he added mockingly, "What, don't tell me you've forgotten about her? What a cruel child."

To the three men's surprise, Seto gave a short but bitter bark of laughter. "As if she has the right to call me that, after everything…" His voice trailed, but the grimace never left his face. After a while, he looked away and muttered, "My men will escort you to the green room. We can talk more there." He shot them a glare. "I will not have you interrupting my guests' enjoyment."

Mitobashi looked bemused, but he and his companions bowed deeply nevertheless and permitted Seto's bodyguard entourage to escort them out. Without wasting another glance, Seto turned on his heels seemingly to rejoin his guests. But as he weaved in and out of the crowd, his blue eyes kept flickering across the crowd. He didn't have to search for long; a raven-haired boy in white suit slipped out from amongst the guests, and hurriedly made his way to Seto with a large grin.

"Nii-sama!"

"Mokuba," Seto's voice betrayed a slight tinge of relief.

The grin faded from his brother's face as he peered at his brother's face. "What happened?"

Seto pursed his lips for a while before he spoke again. "We have… unexpected guests. I've shown them to the green room." He hesitated slightly before adding, "Family. Of sorts."

It was Mokuba's turn to frown. "Family?" His eyes darkened. "Father's?"

"No… not Gozaburo…our family…"

His brother's voice suddenly became very small. "Dad's? Or Mum's?"

Seto's response was merely to let his hand drop and rest on his brother's shoulder. "I'll go see what they want. Most probably it's just a small hassle and I can have them be seen out in a while," he said firmly. "I leave the guests to you for now. I'll be back."

"I want to come along!" Mokuba protested immediately. Seto opened his mouth to refuse, but the younger Kaiba was quick to cut in. "If this is about Dad or Mum, I want to know too!" His voice drooped. "I want to know about them too… I don't even remember Mum…" He looked up at Seto expectantly. "May I?"

Seto stared at his brother almost guiltily. They had sworn to bury the past and keep moving forward, no matter what. From the moment he was ten, when he and his brother found themselves tossed off at the orphanage, he had promised Mokuba to be his parent, brother and guardian all in one. But at times, Seto wondered if he had been able to fulfil all those roles. He knew Mokuba was too sweet to say anything against him, but surely there were times when he failed to fill in those shoes…

He pressed his eyes shut as he let out a resigned sigh. "Fine, do as you wish," he muttered, turning on his heels, saying nothing more.

When the brothers reached the green room, they found that their guests had made themselves quite at home. The man who had been introduced as Saneda offered them a cup of tea each. Seto declined.

"Afraid we will poison you?" Mitobashi was very clearly feigning hurt.

It did nothing to abate Seto's irritation. "Get on with it."

Mitobashi's gaze landed on Mokuba briefly, before the pale-haired man's lips thinned into a smile, hiding a suppressed chuckle. "Ah, the young master Mokuba is here too. Your brother will be too rude to introduce us, so let me do the job for him. Mitobashi Ryou." He stood up to bow, before gesturing at each of his companions, "This rough-looking one over here is Saneda Eiji, and that brooding-looking one is Fujimatsu Kenta. Both of them are my associates." He took his time to take a sip of tea before he continued, shifting his attention back to Seto. "So, Seto…" He had dropped the honorifics by now. "Going back to our conversation earlier… Have you truly forgotten about your mother?"

"Mitobashi-san, you know Mom?" Mokuba's eyes widened.

Seto cut in. "Mokuba."

To his surprise, when Mitobashi next spoke, he directed the words not at him, but at his younger brother. Even his tone was remarkably kinder. "Yes, Mokuba, I know your mother perfectly well. I will be more than happy to share -" He cast a sideway glance at Seto, whose scowl by now had deepened. "If your dear Nii-sama obliges. He seems to be vehemently against anything related to your past, as if it's some badge of shame."

Seto's head snapped up at those last few words and he glowered at Mitobashi. "What do you even know," he hissed.

Mitobashi was unimpressed by the threat; if anything, he was beginning to grow impatient. "I know quite a fair bit, perhaps even more than you. As I've said, we are from the Kazama clan." He eyed Seto coolly. "Would you like to remind yourself of your mother, or would you prefer we do that job for you?"

There was a long silence, before Seto finally said through gritted teeth, "Kazama Airi. She was from an old family of lower nobility." The next few sentences were more for his brother's benefit than his unwelcomed guests, "She was just like her name. Very loving. She loved jasmines… she almost always smelled of them. It was very easy to know where she was."

This was clearly more than enough for a stranger. It was, however, not enough for Mokuba. He looked at Seto expectantly, as if pleading for him to continue. Seto pretended not to see.

A soft chuckle escaped from Mitobashi, earning him yet another death stare from Seto. "You are right. Or partially, at least. Airi was from an old family, but it wasn't of lower nobility. I am beginning to suspect if you are truly her son."

By then, Seto was livid. His hands had rolled up into a fist, and his knuckles were white. Mitobashi either did not notice or he chose to ignore as he stood up and went on, "I admit that I am of lower nobility. So are Saneda, and Fujimatsu. But the Kazamas' main line, your mother's… you have no idea what was taken from the entire clan when Airi abandoned it to marry that sorry excuse of a man. A human man."

Seto shot back impatiently. "Oh I don't know. Why don't you humour me since you know so much? It's getting quite warm in here. Must be the greenhouse effect."

"Wait, what do you mean, a human man?" Mokuba jumped in. It was clear at least he had been following the conversation from the beginning. "Are you trying to say that Mum was somewhat… not human? But how can it be! That's imposs-"

Mokuba's words died in his throat. Within a blink of an eye, Mitobashi's hair had turned white. As he turned to face Mokuba, the sixteen-year-old boy also noticed that the man's golden eyes had turned red. Mokuba's face matched the pallor of Mitobashi's hair when he caught sight of horns protruding from either side of his forehead. Meanwhile, without a word, Seto had moved slightly to come in between his broher and Mitobashi. From the corner of his eyes, he saw that Saneda and Fujimatsu exchanged silently frustrated looks, but said nothing and made no attempt to move from where they were seated.

"Oh, don't be afraid, Mokuba-kun," Mitobashi's tone was an attempt at sounding friendly, but it just came out mocking. "Your mother would have looked like this too, in her true form."

"Don't listen to him, Mokuba," Seto interrupted fiercely, glancing down quickly at his brother. "He's just trying to intimidate you, with this kind of cheap costume trick."

Mitobashi laughed as he made a show of tugging at his horns. "Cheap costume trick, huh…"

He took a step forward until he stood directly in front of the Kaiba brothers. Mokuba, either out of habit or out of instinct, flinched and partly hid behind Seto. His older brother remained with his arms crossed, his eyes coolly fixated on Mitobashi's.

Mitobashi's voice by now had lost all of its mirth. They rang low and cold, like a quiet blade positioned at one's neck. "Kazama Airi, my dear Seto Kaiba, or should I say Princess Airi, was the last pure-blood oni of the Kazamas' main line. You can imagine how the clan felt, seeing the pride of their clan making off with some useless human man."

When Seto interjected, even Mokuba could tell he was being extremely wary about the whole affair. "What has all of this nonsense got to do with us?"

"We're here to take you back with us," Mitobashi replied flatly. He had reverted back to his otherwise human-like form, and absentmindedly ran a hand across his hair to set it back in place. He stood with arms crossed opposite Seto, and looked none the happier as he spoke. "Our clan is at war. We need our heir back."

"Look, assuming that what you are saying is true, then I'm not the so-called pureblood demon you seek," Seto's response was curt. "Surely even demons can know basic science."

A soft voice cut in. "There are exceptions." Seto's head snapped up to the source of the voice: Fujimatsu. "Princess Airi was also the supposed bearer of a prophecy… that her first-born will be the pureblood demon son that the clan has been waiting for. When she abandoned the clan, many believe it was done on purpose, so we won't be able to lay claim to the heir." He paused. "Just like you, we demons have some of the strongest pride. We wouldn't have bothered to reclaim you if we are not facing such a serious threat to our existence."

This time, he turned to look straight at Seto, his immensely dark blue eyes now glinting with plea. "Kaiba-sama, won't you return to the fold? Won't you help us?"


End file.
